The systematic study of phenomena that are "beside" normal experience—ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, and that weird feeling you get when you're sure someone's watching you but no one's there. Paranormal sciences occupy the uncomfortable space between "this might be real" and "this is almost certainly not real," attracting researchers who are either brave pioneers or people who really want to believe their night vision footage of a blurry shape is Bigfoot. The field has generated decades of inconclusive data, which its practitioners interpret as evidence that the phenomena are elusive, not that they're nonexistent.
Example: "She dedicated her life to paranormal sciences, spending nights in abandoned asylums with EMF meters and audio recorders. After 20 years, she had 2,000 hours of recordings that were mostly wind, mice, and her own stomach rumbling. Three times, she caught something that might have been a voice. It said 'help' twice and 'turn that thing off' once. She's still not sure if that was a ghost or just an annoyed caretaker."
by Nammugal February 14, 2026
Get the Paranormal Sciences mug.The study of how groups of people who believe in or investigate paranormal phenomena organize themselves, from local ghost-hunting clubs to international UFO organizations. It examines why these groups develop their own jargon (we don't say "nothing happened," we say "the entities were non-responsive"), how they establish credibility (the more equipment, the more serious), and the complex social dynamics of "proving" something that can't be proven. Paranormal social sciences reveal that ghost hunters are just like any other community: they have leaders, followers, drama, and annual conferences where everyone pretends their footage from last year is definitely not a bug on the lens.
*Example: "A paranormal social sciences study observed a ghost-hunting group for a year. It found that 90% of their 'evidence' was easily explained by natural causes, but the group's social cohesion depended on interpreting it as paranormal. When one member pointed out that their 'ghost orb' was actually just dust, he was gently exiled and had to start his own, more rational group, which lasted approximately three weeks before everyone got bored."*
by Nammugal February 14, 2026
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